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9 July 2016

Celebrities Responded To Alton Sterling And Philando Castile With A Week Of Musical Tributes

This week, we learned the names of two
more black men shot and killed by police.
Deaths like these, caught on video and
widely distributed, can instill an unbearable
restlessness in America. Who can watch
Alton Sterling's son weeping and do nothing?
Who can hear Diamond Reynolds' grief for
her boyfriend Philando Castile and keep still?

This week, black musicians offered words of
comfort and healing to those devastated by
America's systemic racist violence. From
Beyoncé to Miguel to Schoolboy Q, these
songs reflected black Americans' anger and
pain — and the relentless struggle toward a
world where cops no longer have the power
to turn names of living, loved people into
hashtags.